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This is also my last notice that I will not discuss private matters here.

Hmm. Why did you post your uncle's picture, then, on a controversial thread? You brought both him and Kaicho Nakamura into the discussion. I take it from your sharp reaction that either you haven't discussed it with them or they gave you rather embarrassing responses.

And you've brought out a lot of other "personal" matters about yourself on this same thread. And it shows that pretty much everything you do and think is tied up in relation to Tom Read, based on his ideas and the training you undertook with him. So....what are people to think?

Also, really, you should do another thread on Peak Oil (which I've been studying since 1974) on the Open Topics forum.

Best of luck.

David

"That which has no substance can enter where there is no room."
Lao Tzu

Sorry, I was one of the ones who went off topic. A suggestion, though, if you have met or can meet Saotome Sensei, he has been concerned with the environmental issues since before he came to the USA. You could check out his book, Aikido and the Harmony of Nature, which mentions this commitment of his, contact him possibly directly or maybe thru Francis Takahashi, George S. Ledyard or one of the others who know him..... Anyway it's just a suggestion.

I'm going to read more of the posts on this thread, and I'm interested in the bo, not just the jo which I studied a little. And I'm almost 67 and have problems with ukemi (back and knee injuries probably not from Aikido) so my husband suggests I try these traditional weapons. We have his late brother's bo somewhere among the stuff from both my family and his. This could be an opportunity for me health-wise.

But, I'm relatively new to AikiWeb and am just beginning to tap into the rich resources of available videos...

Hmm. Why did you post your uncle's picture, then, on a controversial thread? You brought both him and Kaicho Nakamura into the discussion. I take it from your sharp reaction that either you haven't discussed it with them or they gave you rather embarrassing responses.

A+ on bait quality. Sharing family lineage is not the same as sharing history of private family affairs.

Quote:

And it shows that pretty much everything you do and think is tied up in relation to Tom Read, based on his ideas and the training you undertook with him. So....what are people to think?

I think you need to reread what I've posted in the thread. Over 90% of my training timewise in the Staff has been by myself from the very first day of stick class which was held only once a week. The other six days was done on my own after regular taijitsu classes, as it should be. I know most Aikidoists have a hard time understanding the idea of independent study but that's whats required if one is to strive for the Aikido of the founder. I have already credited Tom for teaching me the concepts, and now that his book is published these concepts are available to anyone who wants to learn more about them. What really matters though is the application in real life, and that is something I mostly taught myself. I'll reiterate for the last time that Aikibodo fundamentally differs from Aikibojitsu in application. I can prove this fact both through transcription and video. But as I said I'm not here to compare me to anyone. If others want to learn what I have to offer then I'm giving them that opportunity. From my informed ‘opinion' my work is the closest to O Sensei's that I know of. I know I'm on a forum filled with older established teachers who would never dare learn from someone much younger especially after being ignorantly accused of koryu heresy, but I know there're lurkers reading this so it's not all for naught.

Quote:

Also, really, you should do another thread on Peak Oil (which I've been studying since 1974) on the Open Topics forum.

And you never felt compelled to attempt to share this on Aikiweb Open Topics before? The Koryu of Olduvai Gorge's Kepan?

I taught kids (6-12 y/o range) I focused more on basic coordination and ukemi safety...er..not to mention "fun," for without it, young kids will get distracted.
We did regular boktoh practice every class (mostly shomenuchi practice) and one or two of the kids began learning jo kata with me before class, but that's about it. My understanding of weapons is fairly limited.

For about six months I had my own private stick class at Northcoast Aikido. I had two students 11 and 12 years old who'd been training in Aikido for at least five years. They're extremely intelligent and were totally captivated by the art when they first saw me training. Once my class was formalized separately from the kid's taijitsu class, I was surprised how fast they started catching on. After a while I was giving them difficult 360 rotation short forms which most adults at the dojo wouldn't even attempt to try! They loved it. I didn't have to give homework because the parents told me they were practicing on their own every day of the week! I mention this because I don't want anyone to think independent study is something to be afraid of, it's unbelievably compelling and exciting regardless of age or physical ability. All the questions whether Aikido is real or works or not disappears instantly. You no longer have to worry about disingenuous or passive aggressive ukes, in fact the staff will eventually teach you how to effectively work with such people and have fun in the process!

Two years of staff provides more than 20 years of status quo Aikido, a sobering yet honest assessment.

For about six months I had my own private stick class at Northcoast Aikido. I had two students 11 and 12 years old who'd been training in Aikido for at least five years. They're extremely intelligent and were totally captivated by the art when they first saw me training. Once my class was formalized separately from the kid's taijitsu class, I was surprised how fast they started catching on. After a while I was giving them difficult 360 rotation short forms which most adults at the dojo wouldn't even attempt to try! They loved it. I didn't have to give homework because the parents told me they were practicing on their own every day of the week! I mention this because I don't want anyone to think independent study is something to be afraid of, it's unbelievably compelling and exciting regardless of age or physical ability. All the questions whether Aikido is real or works or not disappears instantly. You no longer have to worry about disingenuous or passive aggressive ukes, in fact the staff will eventually teach you how to effectively work with such people and have fun in the process!

Two years of staff provides more than 20 years of status quo Aikido, a sobering yet honest assessment.

Hi Tenyu.
Good luck with your aims. I like what you say about independent study, something again that can be easily misinterpreted. I have helped people with studying, be it maths, physics or whatever and just like in Aikido I don't take their complaints of not understanding as fact. The not understanding is fact but the reason they give is never true.

How do I know this? Because a winning student is happy, enjoying the study and practice, and learning. When they are not then that happiness is replaced by certain phenomena and seeing these phenomena tells me what type of study problem they are having. Aikido wise-- where their Ki locked up or blocked so to speak.

Now if the person actually wants to improve as a student, so that they can be more able themselves rather than keep getting stuck and not knowing what to do. So I keep stopping them every time one of these phenomena turn up and get them to to realize that phenomena means something and once they start recognising it in themselves they then understand what to do about it in order to get to an understanding in their studying .

Thus they learn they can be a student and be their own supervisor (or teacher if you like). Guess what? Their confidence and willingness to study ANYTHING shoots up.

I understand by what you write you have learned a lot by using the staff according to certain principles and want others who are interested to benefit as you have. That sounds good to me.

I would say though that there are more 'weapons' than just the staff in Aikido and wonder if you think concentrating on the sword according to it's principles would have the same effect?

Also I would say that a person really concentrating on one aspect and taking it to the nth degree would also learn a lot.

Anyway you remind me of someone who has had a good realization on something and that's all good.

I have no problem with the sword or the bokken, but their applications are severely limited in relation to the staff. A sword by the very nature of its construction can only be used rarefactively in mostly non-precessional planes whereas my practice with the staff is pretty much completely compressive now and open to any achievable asymptotic surface. For the purposes that the katana was originally designed I see a utilitarian benefit for nage to be psychologically ‘distanced by rarefaction' from uke. I've only slaughtered chickens once but I learned I wasn't giving them enough space out of my desire to do it right the first time. A very high-level Aikidoist friend of mine has done thousands in his life and he told me you have to learn how to distance yourself while maintaining energetic connection and cutting the chickens. I just now thought of this parallel but it's very applicable to how the form befits the function in this case.

The opposite is true for the non-lethal side of Aikido. The main purpose to promote mutual advancement of life, nage should intend on complete connection ‘without distance' with uke. This could very well be an argument that almost all Aikido training with the staff should therefore be done compressively. With my own practice I've switched to using the heaviest grade Appalachian hickory, which I never thought I'd do before, and it demands compressive action to activate asymptotes even while stepping backwards and facing/striking forwards - ‘traditionally' a rarefactive situation. I would like to clarify, as this is new terminology for most here, that asymptotic activation when done correctly does not hurt uke in any way. I've only personally experienced it once myself in the uncommon position between nage and the ground and I couldn't feel anything, I was actually ‘paralyzed' frozen for a few seconds until the asymptote dissipated. The activation in the contracted is one of the central functions with Aikibodo and its not as difficult as it looks. I might have confused people before but I'd also like to clarify the concussions I used to get was not from the stick making contact with my head but from the dissonant ‘shockwave' of an improperly activated asymptote reverberating back through my arms into my head at strike termination. This mistake can only happen at very high levels of energy so it's not something anyone should worry about after reading this. Safety is always first priority with me.

Graham, as you point out regarding ‘happiness', if uke either staff or person is treated in a way that doesn't introduce dissonance, then no dissonance(harm) can reflect back into nage. This is not aiki-bunny fluff at all, it is far beyond it and it is what O Sensei was trying to teach perhaps moreso in the decontracted. Luckily this direct manifesting contact with infinity requires deep compassion in order to achieve it.

The points brought up in this thread RE integrity and permission to teach propriatry knowledge are excellent, but a lot of Aikido (and Koryu) people are attending seminars given by Dan Harden and Minoru Akuzawa, both of whom are teaching material based on teachings received from Daito Ryu groups. They may not have taken Keppan, but ,to the best of my knowledge, All Daito Ryu groups teach their members on the assumption that they will not teach non-members without permission and/or appropriate certification..

Akuzawa and Dan both have undeniable skills, but, in principle, how is what they are doing different from Tenyu is doing? Of course if they have received the appropriate license/permission, this is a non-issue, but it's probably worth clarifying.

I REALLY don't want to start a flame war and I have no personal "thing" against Dan, Akuzawa or anyone else, honestly, but does no-one else see a dichotomy here? Or am I missing something?

Not that anyone cares but...

I've talked to some of the parties mentioned above and they have addressed some of the concerns stated in my post. Looking back, I don't think this was an appropriate place to bring this topic up. It certainly wasn't appropriate to mention the above people in this context , so I apologise to them. I think Tenyu's actions can stand or fall on their own merits.

From the reading I've done on Aikiweb it seems that Internal has yet to be defined or described with much precision. I previously said true internal power in the context of Aikido requires singular action resonant with the source of creation. This is fundamental as O Sensei said many times, but he never explained how it manifests physically. I think he confused a lot of people too by using some techniques deceptively external in appearance. In reality there's little capacity for external in Internal action.

I can only go by my own experience here by stating that learning grounded contracted asymptotic activation is the entry point to everything Internal. The isolated action itself disregarding the forms attached to them is the exact same thing others here have referred to as pole shaking. In order to activate the staff its placement is limited to a very specific range of locations for each form. I'll state common sense here and note nage's entire physical orientation to uke(staff) is highly defined as well, but it's incredibly more defined than what Aikidoists are accustomed to even including work with a rigorous semi non-compliant uke or a test in a dojo. The average weapons of all the major branches of Aikido, as is openly admitted to here also isn't conducive to learning Internal action. Despite the ‘formlessness' of O Sensei's lost freestyle work it's ironically packed with preformal precision. The two or three staff katas that exist in the status quo today ironically have visually ‘precise' forms yet are usually absent of resonance, phase lead, periodicity, exponential transitions and perhaps most importantly grounded asymptotic activation, all the characteristics of Internal Aikido.

In order to ground and activate an asymptote all the preceding action, the form, becomes predetermined. When I discovered how to activate I had to adjust all of my work accordingly in a matter of days. It took a few weeks maybe a month before I could consciously stop making corrections and the new kinesthetic memory matched the implicit line and structures of Internal's demands. My first two years with the staff was external but there's no reason anyone should have to go through that. Aikido must be Internal in order to be holistic.

> Aikido is fundamentally a striking art.
> To throw uke, one needs to strike with uke.

Tenyu,

Could elaborate a little more? Thanks

regards,
Daniel

Daniel,

In every Aikido throw nage should be striking with uke at a grounded asymptote. I know it's difficult to visualize this with certain techniques especially in moments where uke isn't physically connected to nage. It's a lot more subtle than the staff because it requires so little power in comparison that the strike can appear invisible. It's very obvious though to any practitioner with over half a year of good weapons study.

I appreciate your reply, but I can't say I understand your terminology. I know you've used it before in the forum, but googling for the term I could only find 4 hits, one of them being this thread. Would you care to elaborate a little more and perhaps tell us why you chose to you use it? Thanks in advance.

regards,
Daniel

I googled asymptote and got almost 3 million hits?

In a proper strike, the final 'line' can't be hit without activation so it can't be said that the line is ever reached. My next video will show high frequency asymptotic activation much better than my previous ones.

In a proper strike, the final 'line' can't be hit without activation so it can't be said that the line is ever reached.

Googling asymptote or activation could never help with this-- it is not conventional usage.
There are lots of ways to think about what a strike is and why it works I guess.
When I strike a bag, the target is most certainly reached. And according to the bag's motion, it looks like it has been activated. Pretty simple, but I'm a simplistic kind of guy I guess. I could talk about striking in more complex terms but I'm not sure if it means much to anyone.

Daniel, my answer-- I did TKD before, and I looked at it from a syllabus point of view. In TKD we worked with strikes from just over leg's distance away to just under arm's length away. Nothing closer. Aikido had stand-up grappling. Seemed like I would be a very incomplete martial artist if I couldn't at least do that.
Also the idea of not being prosecuted for self-defense seemed nice.

Once again, thanks for the responses, I´m headed for the countryside during the carnaval, but I´m looking forward to check the forum soon again. Aikiweb is such an amazing community!

Quote:

Jonathan Wong wrote:

Googling asymptote or activation could never help with this-- it is not conventional usage.
There are lots of ways to think about what a strike is and why it works I guess.
When I strike a bag, the target is most certainly reached. And according to the bag's motion, it looks like it has been activated. Pretty simple, but I'm a simplistic kind of guy I guess. I could talk about striking in more complex terms but I'm not sure if it means much to anyone.

Daniel, my answer-- I did TKD before, and I looked at it from a syllabus point of view. In TKD we worked with strikes from just over leg's distance away to just under arm's length away. Nothing closer. Aikido had stand-up grappling. Seemed like I would be a very incomplete martial artist if I couldn't at least do that.
Also the idea of not being prosecuted for self-defense seemed nice.

Jonathan,

Thanks for the explanation, I´m sure I´ll eventually get it. I think I must be a simplistic kinda of guy myself, but if you ever get to talk about striking in more complex terms, I´d love to hear it.

I´m under the impression that the stance usually used in Aikido tends to be lower than the ones used in TKD. If this is so, do you think it gets in the way of how you usually set up your kicks?

Quote:

Tenyu Hamaki wrote:

I googled asymptote and got almost 3 million hits?

In a proper strike, the final 'line' can't be hit without activation so it can't be said that the line is ever reached. My next video will show high frequency asymptotic activation much better than my previous ones.

Tenyu,

I had googled for "grounded asymptote" (with quotes) and didn´t find anything useful. I´m a newcomer on the forum and all, but, at least to me, your lingo seems a bit exotic. What you´re describing might indeed be as obvious as you mention, but to me (and my poor dominion over the English language), the idea isn´t getting through. Anyway, looking forward for your video.

Quote:

John O'Rorey wrote:

Good police departments train in Yokomen and a few variations for stunning/debilitating.

As far as coming from another "art" I don't know if you'd count boxing. But, I went to Aikido for police work, multiple attacker, and greater awareness. I got a whole lot more than I was intentionally looking for!(In a good way!)

John,

I´d definitely count box as a striking art. When all hell breaks loose, an 1 - 2 combo can save your life, and let´s be honest, with you being an officer and all, my well being might someday depend on your ability of knocking some teeth loose.

Googling asymptote or activation could never help with this-- it is not conventional usage.
There are lots of ways to think about what a strike is and why it works I guess.
When I strike a bag, the target is most certainly reached. And according to the bag's motion, it looks like it has been activated. Pretty simple, but I'm a simplistic kind of guy I guess. I could talk about striking in more complex terms but I'm not sure if it means much to anyone.

Have you read all my previous posts? Including mine I've given five video examples and concretely identified what contracted asymptotic activation looks like.

When you hit a bag you're striking with your hand at uke. With the staff, I'm striking with uke at a grounded asymptote in space. In Aikido, I never strike at uke. Any atemi*(a physically unconnected throw) I throw are never aimed at uke in the particular but at upstream asymptotes surrounding uke that absolutely determine all of uke's options. For this to happen all of nage's atemi and power applications must be ahead of uke's power applications by 90 degrees, the location of total non-resistance, in time. You can see this mapped out in the graphs on this page: http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14719 The Y-axis represents the power applications of both nage and uke. 1 and -1 are exactly the same, they both represent peak applied power(contraction) and 0 represents a return to peak potential power(decontraction). I copied these graphs from memory after one of the first classes I attended of Tom's where he drew this on the chalkboard. It's also in his new book Aikido Aikibojitsu and The Structure of Natural Law.

This is why fighting and blocking are impossible in Aikido. Referring to the same graph linked above, fighting requires nage's and uke's lines to intersect at 0, and for their peak power applications to collide together at the same time, the definition of absolute resistance.

*Atemi can be used as a transitional resonator(non-activation) leading up to the throw/strike or it can be used as a complete throw/strike(activation) in itself. The asymptotic placement in space is different depending on the type of atemi.

I had googled for "grounded asymptote" (with quotes) and didn´t find anything useful. I´m a newcomer on the forum and all, but, at least to me, your lingo seems a bit exotic. What you´re describing might indeed be as obvious as you mention, but to me (and my poor dominion over the English language), the idea isn´t getting through. Anyway, looking forward for your video.

Grounded means nage is firmly planted in the ground. If nage isn't firmly planted in the ground nor aligned correctly with the asymptote, the asymptote will be dissonant and the staff(uke) can easily injure nage with high frequency activations.

Grounded means nage is firmly planted in the ground. If nage isn't firmly planted in the ground nor aligned correctly with the asymptote, the asymptote will be dissonant and the staff(uke) can easily injure nage with high frequency activations.

Dude, no offence but go down to Hey Juan and get a burrito to kill the munchies. I can not decipher what you are trying to say.

Grounded means nage is firmly planted in the ground. If nage isn't firmly planted in the ground nor aligned correctly with the asymptote, the asymptote will be dissonant and the staff(uke) can easily injure nage with high frequency activations.

Asymptote is a mathematical concept. it's a line that a curve approaches but never intersects. e.g., the asymptote for y=1/x is a straight line at y=0.

"Surfaces of Intent
Suppose someone is running across a large
field and is suddenly instructed to turn right (make
a right angle turn.) He will find it impossible to do
so; his actual path will be a curve. If he is relatively
weak, the curve will be more gradual; if he is
relatively strong, the curve will be more sharp.
If stronger and stronger individuals were to
attempt this, their efforts would produce sharper
curves, closer approximations to a right angle. At
the same time, the curves of stronger individuals
would become closer and closer together (the
difference between the attempt curves becoming
less and less (Figure 09.)
As the strongest individuals attempt the turn,
it becomes apparent that a limit of curvature is
being approached, a limit that is, in the end, fundamentally
beyond human strength to surpass.

"An asymptotic boundary is a limiting surface that is
only approachable, never crossable, as impenetrable
as hardest steel, yet without any real physical
substance whatsoever.

"On a theoretical level, the set of technical
moves of Aikido and Aikibojitsu are based upon
nage continually moving in such a way as to occupy
space that is denied to uke by asymptotic boundary.
Since uke cannot pass through the boundary, nage
is essentially protected by the boundary's impenetrable,
reflective asymptotic surface.1

"When nage moves in such a way as to deny
uke’s center of mass access, nage’s technical
positions are buttressed by the upstream causal
power of asymptotic determinative structure.
Ueshiba Sensei was a true master of this, able to
control multiple armed attackers by continually
moving to space simultaneously denied to all of
them.

"1. More precisely, it is uke's center of mass that is
blocked by asymptotic boundary. It might still be possible
for uke to reach through or perhaps strike through
the boundary (albeit relatively inefficiently) with arms or
weapon. Note that such a reach or strike would itself be
bound by asymptotic determinative surfaces.

Waveguides are used to control extremely high
(microwave) frequency energy by deliberately
using energy's reluctance to stay within the
conduit's metallic structure. The desire of the
energy to avoid re-entering the conductive walls of
a waveguide provides a means to guide and contain
it. In a waveguide, energy is introduced into the
guidant conduit by a small antenna placed within
the conduit, from which the input energy radiates,
propagating down the waveguide toward the ends,
bouncing off the walls as it goes.

One interesting thing about waveguides is
that, if properly designed, the waveguide’s ends
may be open, but there still will be no loss of
energy from the system! Such a waveguide would
be constructed of an actual tube of metal, open on
both ends. Even if very high levels of energy are
input to the waveguide by way of a precisely placed
transmitting antenna, the input energy will not
leave the waveguide structure through the open
ends!

This is because the open ends of the
waveguide act as asymptotic mirrors to the
energy that is travelling toward them, even though
there is no physical mirror, or for that matter any
conductive material there at all. Energy that
reaches the open ends of the waveguide finds in the
‘nothing’ at the end, an infinite impedance, and is
reflected back the other way.1

The notion of asymptotic reflection and
precise placement of the energy generator, is not
limited to electrical waveguides. Aikibojitsu treats
the staff as a resonant entity, a carrier of energy that
doesn't differ in principle from a waveguide.
In Aikibojitsu, choice and location of hand
position, is precisely determined by nodal location
of harmonic preformal wave patterns within the
staff. Control of high levels of energy in the staff is
based upon asymptotic reflection and nonresistant
redirection of energy both outward into
space, and inward to asymptotic ground.
Hand placement and sequencing, with respect
to the waveforms of the resonant staff, is called
Tracking Pattern, a matter considered in detail in
the chapter Technical Aikibojitsu II.
The Asymptotic Channel."

1. Asymptotic reflection from the open end of the conduit
is based upon wavelength of the energy to be contained.
Length of conduit, and precise placement of the
radiant antenna are calculated with respect to the wavelength
of the energy to be contained.
Voltage
Waveguide (metallic conduit)
Current
Impedance = Voltage/Current
At either end of the waveguide, where current is 0, impedance is infinite,
causing energy to be reflected back the other way."
dps

In every Aikido throw nage should be striking with uke at a grounded asymptote. I know it's difficult to visualize this with certain techniques especially in moments where uke isn't physically connected to nage. It's a lot more subtle than the staff because it requires so little power in comparison that the strike can appear invisible. It's very obvious though to any practitioner with over half a year of good weapons study.

Doesn't the standing wave in both examples differ.

One is open to space and thus reflected and the other the wave is terminated to ground and not reflected.